Applied Cognitive Psychology Lectures
Lecture 1: Introduction
Education
● How can you motivate yourself to read that textbook instead of buying the summary?
● What is the optimal way to learn a new language or skill?
● Can we enhance our cognitive functions like memory or creativity using video
games?
Work Place
● What is the influence of sleep or diet on human performance?
● Do we work better while sitting or while standing behind our desks?
● How can we optimise the interaction between users and the software they use at
work?
Industry
● What can we do to prevent human errors in industry?
● What is the optimal sleep-work rhythm for (night)shift workers?
● May light-therapy be effective to influence their day-night rhythm in a healthy pattern?
Transportation
● What can we do to prevent pilot error?
● Will improving protocols do any good?
● Do we need a redesign of the cockpit layout? What might help?
Military
● How can we ensure soldiers are aware of all mission critical information?
● How may drugs or food influence physical and mental endurance in battle?
Justice
● How can we evaluate the accuracy of witness statements in court?
Care and Cure
● How can we improve / maintain vitality in the elderly?
● How can we motivate patients to take their medicine?
Health
● Do ‘superfoods’ give us ‘super cognitive abilities’?
● How can meditation influence our mental and physical fitness?
, ● How can we motivate people to get into shape?
● How to minimise the time we need for sleep?
Sports
● How to push it to the limit?
● How may food be of help?
The ACP Model
What do these different fields have in common?
→ An ACP Perspective
Analyse situations in a systematic way…
Core
Only has 3 elements
Elements are based on the idea that we want to achieve some type of outcome (e.g. vitality
in elderly, better memory performance while studying, etc)
Outcomes are the result of an interaction between cognition and the environment…
Outcome = Cognition x Environment
,Cognition: the things that us as psychologists know a lot about
Environment: something that has been developed with some though behind about how to
best use that particular tool for its purpose
→ through interaction between cognitive process and environment we want to achieve
certain Goals: domains where we want to improve things
Indicators
E.g. Safety
Situation could be considered safe or unsafe due to presence of potential human error
- Memory important to memorise what all buttons are for
- Attention is important to focus on one particular display relevant for current situation
- Flexibility is important to make sure you can shift attention between different displays
so you are not hyper fixated on one particular display
- Inhibition is important if you are in emergency situation and you need to press a red
button but there are several, have to make sure you inhibit tendency to just press one
→ How can we improve the situation to improve safety / minimise delays?
→ We have goals, but how can we evaluate whether there is improvement in achieving
goals?
Indicators: dependent variables in statistics, what we can measure in real life
, Goal: we want to improve all the indicators, level up all things
→ How do we achieve this?
Factors
Factors: independent variables in statistics, things we can change
- Can distinguish between factors that aim to change the environment (e.g. improving
the cockpit), and factors that aim to change/improve the cognition
Complete
Goals achieved
Lecture 1: Introduction
Education
● How can you motivate yourself to read that textbook instead of buying the summary?
● What is the optimal way to learn a new language or skill?
● Can we enhance our cognitive functions like memory or creativity using video
games?
Work Place
● What is the influence of sleep or diet on human performance?
● Do we work better while sitting or while standing behind our desks?
● How can we optimise the interaction between users and the software they use at
work?
Industry
● What can we do to prevent human errors in industry?
● What is the optimal sleep-work rhythm for (night)shift workers?
● May light-therapy be effective to influence their day-night rhythm in a healthy pattern?
Transportation
● What can we do to prevent pilot error?
● Will improving protocols do any good?
● Do we need a redesign of the cockpit layout? What might help?
Military
● How can we ensure soldiers are aware of all mission critical information?
● How may drugs or food influence physical and mental endurance in battle?
Justice
● How can we evaluate the accuracy of witness statements in court?
Care and Cure
● How can we improve / maintain vitality in the elderly?
● How can we motivate patients to take their medicine?
Health
● Do ‘superfoods’ give us ‘super cognitive abilities’?
● How can meditation influence our mental and physical fitness?
, ● How can we motivate people to get into shape?
● How to minimise the time we need for sleep?
Sports
● How to push it to the limit?
● How may food be of help?
The ACP Model
What do these different fields have in common?
→ An ACP Perspective
Analyse situations in a systematic way…
Core
Only has 3 elements
Elements are based on the idea that we want to achieve some type of outcome (e.g. vitality
in elderly, better memory performance while studying, etc)
Outcomes are the result of an interaction between cognition and the environment…
Outcome = Cognition x Environment
,Cognition: the things that us as psychologists know a lot about
Environment: something that has been developed with some though behind about how to
best use that particular tool for its purpose
→ through interaction between cognitive process and environment we want to achieve
certain Goals: domains where we want to improve things
Indicators
E.g. Safety
Situation could be considered safe or unsafe due to presence of potential human error
- Memory important to memorise what all buttons are for
- Attention is important to focus on one particular display relevant for current situation
- Flexibility is important to make sure you can shift attention between different displays
so you are not hyper fixated on one particular display
- Inhibition is important if you are in emergency situation and you need to press a red
button but there are several, have to make sure you inhibit tendency to just press one
→ How can we improve the situation to improve safety / minimise delays?
→ We have goals, but how can we evaluate whether there is improvement in achieving
goals?
Indicators: dependent variables in statistics, what we can measure in real life
, Goal: we want to improve all the indicators, level up all things
→ How do we achieve this?
Factors
Factors: independent variables in statistics, things we can change
- Can distinguish between factors that aim to change the environment (e.g. improving
the cockpit), and factors that aim to change/improve the cognition
Complete
Goals achieved
